Thirty Days to Hoard: Reborn into the Frost

Chapter 90: Chapter 89: Seems to Know

Gu Rongjin checked his watch. It was already past eight in the evening.

”Why is she coming back so late?” he asked.

Liu Hui Chun replied, ”Isn’t it because of the competition with Zhang Wanwan in half a month? I can see she’s putting a lot of effort into it. Every day after her cafeteria window closes, she goes out to search for ingredients. It’s just that she really isn’t a match for Zhang Wanwan.”

Gu Rongjin pondered for a moment. The opportunity for the management center to come for an inspection was rare, but the competition was also cruel. Everything had to follow the rules. Judging from current performances, the probability of Chen Momo’s pickled fish window winning was very low.

”Have the reception uniforms been tailored and the name tags printed in advance?” Gu Rongjin asked expressionlessly.

Liu Hui Chun shook his head. ”Not yet. The competition results haven’t come out yet, so we don’t know whose measurements to use.”

Chen Momo had a petite figure—the small and exquisite type. Zhang Wanwan, on the other hand, was relatively tall with a larger frame. Before the competition results were finalized, they didn’t know whose sizes to follow.

Gu Rongjin frowned and said, ”It will be too late if we wait until the competition results are out. Just make them according to Zhang Wanwan’s specifications first. From the current performance of the two windows, the probability of Chen Momo winning against Zhang Wanwan is very low.”

One was a housewife, and the other was the female boss of a restaurant chain about to go public. These two were not in the same weight class at all. It would be a miracle if Chen Momo could beat Zhang Wanwan.

Liu Hui Chun really liked Xiao Bao, so his affection naturally extended to Chen Momo as well. Feeling a bit of sympathy for her, he couldn’t help but speak up on her behalf. ”But, Base Commander, maybe Chen Momo could suddenly turn things around when the time comes? Before the final result arrives, nothing is set in stone.”

Gu Rongjin said, ”Just do as I said for now.”

Liu Hui Chun had no choice but to nod. He smiled and replied, ”Alright. Tomorrow I’ll have someone prepare the relevant materials according to Zhang Wanwan’s sizes first.”

Later that evening.

”Sister Momo, you’re back?”

As soon as Chen Momo entered the house, Xu Xiaoka came to greet her. She glanced back at Xiao Bao’s room and lowered her voice. ”Xiao Bao is already asleep. Sister Momo, did you have any luck today?”

Chen Momo gently placed the little calico cat in her arms onto the floor. ”I didn’t find anything for the pickled fish, but I did find a little calico kitten.”

Lately, she had been reading more and more recipes for pickled fish, originally thinking she could draw on everyone’s strengths and combine the advantages of each cooking method. However, unexpectedly, the more recipes she read, the more confused she became. Every recipe claimed its own method’s superiority. In the end, she didn’t know which one was actually the best.

It was truly chaotic.

Fortunately, she had picked up a little calico cat today. In the vast, desolate white world, this fragile yet tenacious little life gave the exhausted Chen Momo a glimmer of pleasant surprise.

Xu Xiaoka was naturally pleasantly surprised as well. Her eyes lit up when she saw the kitten. ”Wow, this little calico cat is too cute! Sister Momo, when Xiao Bao wakes up tomorrow and sees our new family member, he’ll definitely be thrilled!”

Chen Momo seemed to envision her son’s delighted expression upon seeing the kitten, and a relieved smile naturally formed on her lips.

”MEOW.”

The little calico cat curled up on the floor, staring with its large, dark, round eyes, and meowed pitifully at Chen Momo.

”It looks like it’s hungry,” Xu Xiaoka said.

”I’ll go get it something to eat,” Chen Momo replied.

She got up and went to the kitchen to find food for the kitten. She noticed there was still some freshly made pickled fish left. She had only taken a couple of bites, so there were still plenty of fish slices remaining. A little cat would probably like eating this meticulously cooked fish.

Therefore, Chen Momo scooped out some fish slices from the golden broth and placed them in a small bowl. She ladled out about half a bowl in total and brought it over to feed the cat.

Chen Momo had never raised a cat before. She thought the little calico cat would really love to eat this pickled fish, but unexpectedly, the kitten merely leaned in to sniff it, then turned its face away and continued crying at her.

”MEOW. MEOW.”

Xu Xiaoka frowned and said, ”Why isn’t this little kitten eating? Is there something wrong with its nose? It’s actually refusing such delicious pickled fish!”

Saying that, Xu Xiaoka grabbed the kitten’s round little head, trying to force it to eat the pickled fish slices. The kitten resisted with all its might, its mouth clamped shut, refusing to eat even a single slice. It raised its little head and continued to cry at Chen Momo.

”MEOW! MEOW!”

Xu Xiaoka muttered from the side, ”You’re clearly hungry, yet you won’t eat these delicious pickled fish slices we’re feeding you. I think you deserve to starve. Sister Momo, let’s just ignore it and let it stay hungry.”

But Chen Momo seemed to have grasped something from this. This little kitten would rather starve than eat the pickled fish, which meant that to a cat, the pickled fish wasn’t considered a true delicacy.

Why was that?

Chen Momo stood up, walked into the kitchen, and scooped out a large, live fish from the bucket. This large fish was meant to be used as an ingredient for tomorrow. Now, Chen Momo quickly and efficiently scaled the fish, cleaned out its innards, and sliced it up. She carefully placed a few slices of the fresh, raw fish into a small bowl and brought it to the kitten.

A strange thing happened.

The same cat that had just refused to eat a single bite of pickled fish now saw the raw fish slices. It meowed impatiently, leaned in to sniff them repeatedly, and actually opened its mouth to start eating in large bites.

In no time, the raw fish slices in the bowl were eaten clean.

Xu Xiaoka frowned and said, ”Sigh, you’re a really weird cat. You wouldn’t eat the cooked pickled fish slices, but insisted on eating flavorless raw fish slices? You really can’t tell good from bad.”

Unexpectedly, Chen Momo suddenly spoke up. ”No, Xiao Ka, we were all wrong. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Cats are the ones most capable of distinguishing between good and bad food.”

Xu Xiaoka looked at her in shock.

Chen Momo had experienced a sudden epiphany by now. She continued, ”Because the pickled fish slices have so many seasonings added, what the cat actually smells is the scent of the spices, not the natural aroma of the fish itself. That’s why the cat refused to eat them. But the raw fish slices, despite lacking any seasoning, retain the inherent freshness of the fish, which is why the cat likes them so much. I think we’ve been putting our efforts in the wrong direction this whole time.”

Xu Xiaoka stared at Chen Momo with a surprised expression.

Chen Momo went on, ”We previously focused all our efforts on improving the broth of the pickled fish by adding more and more spices. Little did we know, the heavy spices actually masked the original aroma of the food. So, when customers take their first bite, they find it incredibly delicious. But by the third or fourth bite, they don’t feel it’s tasty anymore. And because too many heavy spices increase the greasiness of the pickled fish, they won’t continuously buy it again on the second or third day.”

Chen Momo now seemed to know exactly what she needed to do!